Belt-tightener.



J. W. REDD'ING.

BELT TIGHTENER.

APPLICATION r1121) SEPT. 26, 1910. RENEWED AUG.14,1912.

1,051,759. Patented Jan. 28, 1913 2L Hg/LII]: :2;

F 7 I 7'1; 7 5 I2 2 5 o 3 A 14 17/75 55 2 s; I firz/v/ar UNITED. STATES. PATENT omen I JOHN W. BEDDING, OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, ASSIGNOB TO C. E. HIGGINS, OF

. SEATTLE, G'ION.

BELT-TIGHTENEB.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 28, 1913.

Application flied September 26, 1910, Serial No. 588,939. Renewed August 14, 1912. Serial No. 715,128.

To all whom it mag} concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN W. Rename, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a reeldent of Seattle, in the county of King and State of Washington, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Belt- Tighteners, of which the following is a full, true and exact specification.

The rincipal object of m invention is to prov de an apparatus of this class of simple and inexpensive construction, having great power, and quickly attachable to the ends of a belt to draw the same together to be laced, the apparatus being so constructed as to be out of the way of the oserator during the process of lacing the en s to ether.

eferring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 IS a plan view of my im roved belt ti h belt, the outer ends of the latter being broken away. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of one of the arms upon the line H of Fig. 1, the attached clamp showing in central section upon the line y y of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view, in side elevation, of one of the clamps, the belt showing in cross section.

Reference character 1 designates twin arms hinged together at2, secured to one of which arms is the rack 3'in the form of an arc of a circle having its center at 2. At the outer ends of both the arms 1 is pivotall mounted at 4 the crosspieces 5'and 5 whic are hinged together at 6 and adapted to embrace the ends of the belt v7. Upon theouter ends of the crosspieces 5 are pivotally mounted, at 8, the bails 9, between the upper ends of which are mounted the rollers 10, through which rollers eccentrically pass the shafts 9, which shafts are rigidly secured to the rollers 10, but which pass loosely through perforations in the upper ends of the bails 9, one end of each of the shafts 9 terminatin in a lever 11. Extending from each of t e crosspieces 5 are the rojections 12 which form limit stops for t e swinging bails 9. Upon one of the arms -1 is secured a guide or brace 13 for the rack 3. Upon the same arm is mounted thewheel 14, to which is secured the pinion 15, which pinion meshes with the teeth of the rack 3. Through the same arm loosely passes the pin 15 to which is secured the pinion wheel 16 which meshes with the teeth tener asapplied to the en s of a of the wheel 14, the crank 17 being secured to the upper end of the in 15.

It is thought that e construction and operation of my improved belt tightener will be fully understood from the foregoing description, it being obvious that the ends of the .-belt 7, after the belt has been passed around its pulleys, may be laced between the'crosspieces 5 and 5", whic may be quickly vand securely clamped together bi raising the lever 11 from its position as s own in full lines to its position as shown in dotted lines (Fig. 3), the eccentric'action of the roller 10 bringing approximately that portion of its peripheral surface which is farthest from the center of the shaft 9 into contact with the up er surface of the crosspiece 5, after whic a downward pressure upon the lever 11 will draw the crosspieces 5 and 5 together and clamp the belt, as clearly shown in the drawings. By turning the crank 17 the arms 1, through the pinion 16, wheel 14, and pinion 15 and rack 3, are drawn to ether until the ends of the belt meet rea y to be laced together.

I am fully aware that it isnot new in the art to employ means to draw the ends of a belt together, for lacing, but serious defects exist in the means heretofore employed for this purpose in that their use prevents free access to the perforated ends of the belt, thereby prolongin the operation of lacing. It will be o served that after the ends of the belt have been drawn together by means of in improved tightener, the perforated on s of the belt are readily accessible and can be quickly laced together. It will, of course, be appreciated that the mending of a broken belt is frequently the cause of the loss of much time, an entire crew of men being idle in conse quence thereof, and that a few minutes saved in such mending is often of great value.

While I have shown a ment of my invention, am aware that many changes will readily suggest themselves to others skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, and I do not therefore, desire to be limited to the exact form herein shown and described. I

What I claim is- A belt tightener comprising a pair of arms hinged together at one of their ends Ill? and having clamps pivotally mounted upon block or extension upon the same arm to their opposite ends, means on said arms for hold the rack to its'work in a. horizontal di- 10 drawing thfe same togethelt'i a curved rack rection. upon one 0 said arms mes ing with' a pin- 5 ion upon the other arm, a. gear wheel se- 7 JOHN REDDING cured to the top of said pinion and extend Witnesses: ing out over the rack whereby the latter is Fun P. Gonm, heldto its work in one direction, and a. A. V. REDDING. 

